Experimenting with black and white conversion techniques

For the past couple of days I’ve been experimenting. Well, not really experimenting, not in the strictest sense. Rather, venturing into areas that I’ve not previously explored.

It all started with a chance discovery (described more fully on my personal blog) that, after some hesitation, led me to go back over photographs I’ve taken in the past… colour photographs… to see if any offered potential for worthwhile conversion into black and white.

Hesitation because this isn’t normally the sort of thing I’d do. As far as I’m concerned, once a photo’s been taken, processed, uploaded or whatever, that’s an end to the matter. Move on and forget about it.

Now the “experimenting” angle comes into play inasmuch as I’ve been playing around with different conversion techniques… establishing which techniques work best with different types of subject-matter.

Of those I’ve done to date I regard this one as my most successful effort…

– Mike

More creative than usual

I’m not really given to excessive post-processing. A bit of tweaking here and there… tone curve, contrast, sharpening, all the normal stuff really. And occasionally, particularly with black and white, I do have rather a fondness for a touch of vignetting.

But sometimes a particular photograph seems to cry out for rather more attention. And so it was with this little series that I captured, purely by chance, on a trip to Salcey Forest in Northants a few days ago.

They’re of a swan sculpture that I’ve been wanting to photograph for ages now although the opportunity had not yet presented itself. Just on the outskirts of Bedford, and therein has lain the problem, for transport has always been the principal obstacle.

However, these will now do to be going on with.

And having once offloaded them onto the computer it seemed to me they were crying out for some “special treatment”, so I allowed myself to become rather more creative than usual!

More on the PhArtists’ Touch

Ah yes. Following on from the previous post of Darren’s, here are a couple more examples… of my own efforts in that direction. Although I definitely think some more work’s required on the technique before we embrace it fully!

– Mike

The PhArtists’ Touch.

Not too long ago the PhArtists tried out a new technique, with somewhat mixed results.

This technique was one of those spur of the moment type of things, discovered by accident whilst “playing around”.

Once discovered, the PhArtists couldn’t resist experimenting and therefore became the first PhArtists technique.

Dubbed the PhArtist Touch.

Whether this technique remains a part of the PhArtists repertoire is uncertain, it may make an appearance again…hopefully when we’ve perfected it.

– Darren

Wrap-up

June 2010, and the theme for the group project was “Exotica”. By this time I was beginning to move on to other things, so this became my very last contribution to the project, and Darren was to withdraw also without submitting anything further. Consequently, this is the very last image in this present little series.

What may seem totally mundane and commonplace to one person may be fabulously exotic to another…

– Mike

The theme for May 2010 was…

“Nihilism”:

– Mike

Darren’s “Nihilism”

Originally posted in May 2010 for the group theme project.

Was waiting for someone, anyone else to post something before I put this out there, but seein’ as no one seems to have bothered yet I might as well.

Nihilism, not sure why I picked this as the theme. Might be the General election that was going on at the time and my particular mistrust of the current political and electoral system, or maybe I just like the word…

…Anyway here’s my interpretation of it.

– Darren